What martial arts does Brock Lesnar know?

Brock Lesnar is best known for his role in the UFC and WWE. In both of these promotions, he has enjoyed a successful career and has proven himself as a skilled martial artist and entertainer. On the face of it, Lesnar is a hulk of a man with a god-given natural athleticism. However, underneath this is a great technical ability that often went underrated.

Sadly, Lesnar never really reached his true potential in MMA as he retired after having just 9 fights. This was down to having diverticulitis which affected his intestines and forced him out of the business. Not only this, but Lesnar started training MMA relatively later on in life and was aged 30 when he made his debut. Financially, you could argue that Lesnar could earn more over in professional wrestling as well which was his first love compared to MMA.

Still, it says a lot about a fighter who didn’t reach his potential when he was still crowned the UFC heavyweight champion and fighting some of the best fighters around. This just goes to show how talented Lesnar was – who is still considered one of the greatest athletes that the UFC has ever seen. Read on to learn about Brock Lesnar’s martial arts past, as well as his strengths and weaknesses.

Brock Lesnar knows Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Undeniably, Lesnar’s strengths were in his grappling. Simply put, if he could put someone on the ground then there was every chance that he’d win the fight. This makes sense, considering the thought of being on the end of ground and pound by Lesnar is utterly terrifying. However, Lesnar wasn’t just a brawler. He also defeated Shane Carwin by an arm triangle which was his only ever submission win. Ironically, Lesnar’s finisher move in WWE was the ‘F5’ which was a Kimura shoulder lock. Sadly, he never pulled this off in MMA though. Nonetheless, the prospect of Brock Lesnar trying to break your shoulder is not a nice thought.

Interestingly, Lesnar was clearly losing the fight beforehand and had to stand some pretty big punches. So, for him to withstand this and then win by submission is pretty unheard of at the higher weight classes. Still, it just goes to show how versatile Lesnar’s grappling was. Although he was best known for his wrestling – he could also throw in submissions too. He only ever lost one bout to submission too which indicates that he had at least some awareness when it came to defending submissions.

Brock Lesnar knows striking – kind of

Although Lesnar was a skilled grappler, his striking was definitely his main weakness. Simply put, if you could avoid his takedowns, then you would probably win when facing Brock Lesnar. So, this is what happened when he fought the likes of Alistair Overeem and Cain Velasquez. Often, Lesnar would eat too many shots and his defensive striking was clearly his achilles heel.

Obviously, standing with Lesnar was still a scary prospect, but if you boxed clever then you could possibly win, whereas if it went to ground your chances of success diminished massively. At the same time, Lesnar knew some striking and wasn’t afraid to use it. Sometimes, he would throw kicks and use his natural athleticism to his advantage. In short, his boxing was clearly his biggest issue, but he at least knew some striking and would often combine this with wrestling.

Brock Lesnar knows wrestling

If you ever watched Brock Lesnar fight, then you’d be well aware that he was an excellent wrestler. As far as the heavyweight division goes, he was arguably one of the greatest ever. This is why it’s a bit sad when people put his success down purely to genetics, as it takes away from his technical grappling ability. For instance, in his youth Lesnar was a NCAA Champion which is the equivalent of being an elite black belt in wrestling.

There’s also footage of him from his college days and his takedown speed and power was frightening. During this time, he also played football competitively which would have only added to his balance and movement. In other words, if Lesnar managed to close the distance and shoot on you whilst standing, the chances are you would be taken down.

From there, his pressure and pins would exhaust his opponents, eventually leading to victory. Only Frank Mir really survived this strategy by getting a knee bar. Even then, he still came very close to defeat and eventually lost in the re-match. This happened in Lesnar’s second ever MMA fight against one of the heavyweight greats which says it all.

A tale of what could have been

As mentioned earlier, Brock Lesnar had a solid MMA career and fought some tough guys. Even still, his career remains a tale of what could have been. For all his success, there’s an underlying feeling within the MMA community that he could have potentially been one of the best ever had he focused on MMA in his earlier years.

The reason for this is that he still did very well but was never truly dedicated to MMA like most pros are. For example, he had his WWE career which arguably held more of his attention. So, the idea is that his natural ability took him to a UFC title. However, if he coupled this with striking training for several years – he could have done even better. This is pure speculation and is a big case of ‘what if’.

At the same time, perhaps MMA fans should appreciate what they got with Lesnar. He could have easily gone and fought in Asia or Bellator for similar money – yet faced far easier opponents. Whilst this would have given him a better record than the one he retired with, he wouldn’t have truly tested himself, which is ultimately what competitive martial arts is all about.

Conclusion

Brock Lesnar was arguably one of the most one-dimensional UFC champions ever and even with his athleticism aside, he was still a very skilled, technical wrestler. Overall, it’s fair to say that he was a solid mixed martial artist – with the gaping hole of boxing as his main weakness. Still, Lesnar could easily beat the vast majority of high level MMA fighters, let alone the general population.

In conclusion, Lesnar was primarily a grappler who often relied on his freak strength and speed to demolish his opponents when fighting MMA. Whilst his striking left a lot to desired, his physicality alone proved that some people genuinely are born athletes. Sadly, Lesnar never started MMA at a younger age – as some fans have even gone as far as to claim that he could have been one of the greatest ever had he turned to MMA earlier in life.